7 days, 7 months, 7 years
by Asrith33
Summary: Before he joined the guild, Natsu was happily living with his father Igneel; but something happened one day that separated them forever. Now, memories of that time have come to haunt Natsu, and his friends try desperately to bring Natsu back to the present. Meanwhile, a new threat arises that has Fairy Tail thrown into a decade long conflict, that is somehow tied to Natsu's past.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

Natsu thrashed in his covers as those traumatizing scenes flashed through his mind. Memories of strange men, pain, and a deafening roar had him gasping for breath as he jolted awake. He breathing was erratic, and he clutched at his chest as he tried to calm down. Happy watched silently from the couch, not daring to move, lest he provoke Natsu into attacking.

Natsu groaned and curled his knees into his chest, trying to slow his breathing. After some time, his heart rate returned to normal, leaving him shaking in a cold sweat.

"It's okay, Happy; you can come out now."

Happy carefully stepped forward, still weary around the frightened Dragon Slayer.

Natsu frowned. "I said I'm all right, damn it!"

Happy jumped forward, landing softly in Natsu's arms.

"Are you okay, Natsu?" Happy asked in his high pitched voice. "I can get you a fish to make you feel better."

"I'm alright; I just need to go out for a minute, just go back to sleep Happy."

The little blue cat watched as Natsu dressed and pulled on his sandals. He worried about Natsu, he'd been having those dreams more and more often, and they obviously did something to Natsu that nothing else could. It had to be something from his past, something so horrible and traumatizing that it still stood out in Natsu's memory, even after all that he had been through.

Natsu opened the door to their small home and smiled at Happy, trying to reassure him; but it only made him more worried.

"I'll see you in a little bit Happy, get some rest while I'm gone."

With that, the Dragon Slayer shut the door softly and quietly pattered down their stone walkway. Happy watched him go and couldn't help but fell something ominous about Natsu leaving. He shook of the feeling, coming to the sensible assumption that Natsu could take care of himself.

Yet he still worried.

The little cat paced the entire length of their floor plan, thinking about what should be done to help Natsu. Natsu would never consent to see a Psychiatrist, there were some things he wouldn't even tell Happy, much less a total stranger. But maybe there was someone else.

Happy, sure of his plan, hopped out of their house's only window and flew as fast as he could toward Magnolia. He had to see her, she was the only one who could get Natsu out of his funk and Happy was sure, that if she couldn't help, then no one could.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**Notes: Sorry to all of you guys who were confused about the name change, the original just wasn't doing it for me. I'm horrible at coming up with names for books (leave that to the professionals) so I am open to any ideas you guys might have for this particular book title (I'm still not sure about the new one, even though it sounded like genius twelve o' clock at night).**

As Natsu silently slunk into the shelter of the woods, Happy was flying with all his might towards Strawberry Street. After he had left the house, his feeling of dread for Natsu's wellbeing had only grown stronger. Finally, he reached the street of tall apartment buildings. The streets were silent; nobody was out this early in the morning, save for a ferryman quietly poling his small boat down the river.

Happy flew up to Lucy's second story window and scratched his paw against the glass. Lucy had taken to locking her window in order to keep Natsu and Happy out.

Happy scratched harder on the glass, emitting a horrible screeching peal that made him want to chop his own ears off. Still, Lucy did not hear. Happy started banging on the glass with his soft cushioned fists, trying desperately to wake Lucy.

Suddenly, the pane popped loose and crashed to the floor, shattering into a million pieces on the stone. Happy peeked into the apartment, ready to bear Lucy's wrath, but none came. Happy hopped into the small apartment and quickly perused Lucy's entire house, only to find no one there.

Happy quickly climbed back up the window and took off over the street, flying towards the only other place that Lucy could be; to Fairy Tail.

Natsu stared out across the lake, struggling to enjoy the peace and quiet of the environment around him. An old oak tree on the far bank had captured his attention, and he stared at it with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia.

It was becoming too hard to stay in the forest, to stay around Magnolia. Everything was beginning to remind him of those days, the ones he had spent with his father. He shuddered as he was overtaken by a flashback.

_There was Igneel, teaching him how to fish for the very first time. It also happened to be his first swimming lesson._

_Igneel said, "The biggest fish dwell on the bottom of the lake. If you can hold your breath long enough, and if you're quick enough, you can catch one and bring it back up."_

_"__But I don't know how to swim," Natsu complained. "Besides, why do I need to learn how to catch fish if you can do it?"_

_"__Well I could certainly catch a fish in half the time you could, but fishing is a valuable skill. You can use it to provide for a family one day."_

_Natsu blushed, his cheeks matching the same color as his hair. "I- I don't need one of those, I have you, Dad; I don't need anyone else as long as you're here."_

_The dragon chuckled, nudging Natsu towards the water. "But I will not always be here Natsu, so while I am, I will teach you all that I can to prepare you for the outside world."_

_And with that, he shoved Natsu into the water, which barely made a splash as his tiny body sunk under the surface. Natsu kicked with all his might to get to the surface, but he could not, so he figured the next sensible thing to do would be to simply sink to the bottom and catch a fish._

_After some time, out of bounds of anything a normal human could possibly do, Natsu reached the bottom. He immediately spotted a large catfish lazing around among the mossy rocks. Natsu darted forward, and before the fish could even think to react, it was firmly in his grasp. _

_Natsu squeezed the fish tight, fearing it would slip from his grasp. The fishes eyes nearly bugged out of its head, Natsu's grip was so hard. Natsu paddled with one hand, holding the fish to his chest with the other. Finally, he broke the surface of the water, coughing and sputtering as he paddled towards the shore._

_Igneel was still waiting on the bank, calm, despite the fact that Natsu had been under for nearly five minutes. Natsu held the large catfish up in his hand, proudly presenting it to his father. Igneel smiled and nodded his head at his son as he sat next to his huge talons._

_"__Very good Natsu, you learn quickly."_

_Natsu beamed, glad to hear his father's praise. "I thought I was going to drown on the last bit. My chest started to hurt and water got in my nose." As if to demonstrate, Natsu stuck his finger in his nose and jerked his head back, and tossed the fish over his head for extra effect._

_Igneel laughed, a deep rolling sound akin to thunder echoed off the trees, and Natsu smiled even wider. If his father was happy, then he was happy._

_"__Do you know what the purpose of this lesson was, Natsu?" Igneel asked, earning a shrug from his young son. "As I said before, I will not always be around, and you must learn to take care of yourself. There will even come a day that you will wish to leave, and I will not stop you; but I will not leave you without even the most basic of knowledge."_

_Natsu pouted. "Then why won't you let me see any humans," he challenged, peering up at Igneel's lofty height. "I bet they know loads of stuff." Natsu smiled innocently, but Igneel saw right through his son's clever subject change. He was silent for a moment as he studied his son, contemplating the best way to approach this tender subject._

_"__Natsu," Igneel began, trying to explain to the boy in a way that he would understand. "I recall telling you once that Humans are very dangerous, and that you should not actively search for them like you do every time I leave you alone."_

_Natsu gasped, unable to believe that he had been caught. "I-I don't know what you're talking about," he mumbled, avoiding eye contact as his father stared him down. Igneel huffed and lowered his head so that one, huge, solemn eye was staring into Natsu's small green ones._

_"__Natsu, listen to me when I tell you; humans are not safe. They destroy, murder, and don't care what anyone else thinks of them. Humans are heartless, and many would not hesitate at the thought of hurting you."_

_Natsu just stared at his scaly father, not really absorbing a single word that Igneel was saying. Igneel sighed and nudged Natsu softly with his snout, still staring the young boy in the eyes._

_"__Natsu… I don't want to lose you, so promise me you'll stop looking for humans while I'm gone. It makes me nervous knowing that while I'm gone you could be taken." Natsu nodded his head, and all Igneel could do was hope he would keep his promise._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Happy fluttered uneasily as the lights from the guild hall finally came into view. Now that he had gotten to the guild, he wondered how he would explain the situation to everyone. You didn't just come out and say that Natsu of all people was having nightmares.

He fretted silently as he entered the nearly empty guild. He was surprised that there were people hanging around so early in the morning. Mirajane was humming from behind the counter as she began prepping for the long day of service, Knob was still standing in front of the request board, and Cana had already started on her third beer stein of the day.

Several other members were milling about as well, but Happy did not spot Lucy among them. He sullenly floated over to Mira and collapsed on the bar top, defeated.

Mira noticed Happy's pouting in sidled over to him.

"What's wrong Happy? Did you and Natsu get into a fight?"

Happy shook his head as best as he could from his face-planted position on the counter. Mirajane frowned and lifted up the blue exceed, trying her best to find the source of his depression.

"Awwww… did Carla reject you?"

Happy seemed to gain an energy boost at hearing those words and puffed out his chest defiantly.

"Carla would never reject me," he yelled confidently, "I just haven't asked her yet because I haven't found the perfect fish to give her. When I do ask her, she'll be so stunned that rejection will never cross her mind!"

Mira laughed at the exceeds brashness and hoped that Happy's plan followed through, otherwise he'd be heartbroken.

Mira waited for him to calm down and then asked him why he was so depressed before. Happy's good mood disappeared as he remembered why he came in the first place.

"I was looking for Lucy, but I can't find her anywhere."

Mira quickly pulled out the request book and scanned through the pages until she came on the records. She flipped the book around for Happy to see and tapped a spot where Lucy's pretty handwriting filled the square next to the request.

"Levy and Lucy went on a request to move all the books out of an old library in Hargeon to a newer one so that the old one can be remolded. They won't be expected bask for a few weeks."

"Eeh! How big is the library?" Happy yelled; it couldn't possibly take that long to move books.

"Pretty big," Mira replied, "Says here that it's the third biggest in Fiore and is one of the oldest as well."

Happy groaned; there was no way he could wait that long for Lucy to return.

Mira smiled, stowing away the request book. She sat in silence with the exceed for a moment, letting him sulk.

"Why are you looking for Lucy?"

"Natsu has been having trouble sleeping." The blue cat replied, which was far too vague for her to properly understand his meaning.

Happy went on. "I went to her house to ask her to help, but the window was locked because Natsu used to come in through there and sleep in Lucy's bed, and then I accidentally broke it and found out she wasn't home, and now I'm here."

Mira blushed as she interpreted an entirely different meaning from the exceeds story.

_'__Natsu was sleeping in Lucy's bed!? Does that mean that they were dating? They must have, but then they broke up and Lucy wouldn't let Natsu come anymore. Now Natsu can't sleep without Lucy; ooh that's so cute!'_

Happy watched as Mira descended into her fantasy world, already imagining what Natsu and Lucy's baby would look like. Just as Happy made to leave, Mira grabbed the blue exceed, determined to help Natsu with his problem. Mira was going to live up to her self-appointed nickname miss, knows-everything-about-relationships-and-can-solve-all-your-problems.

"Happy when you get home, tell Natsu that he needs to tell Lucy how he feels, and that he enjoys being with her and that he can't sleep without her. He needs to tell her that he wants to get married and have five kids, and that the wedding cake _must_ be vanilla and strawberry."

Happy reeled at the barrage of information, his eyes rolling back into his head as Mira shook him around. He was absolutely sure that he was going to have brain damage for the rest of his life. Mira finally released him, shooing him away to do her bidding.

Happy dizzily floated out of the guild, slowly making his way back home.

Meanwhile, Natsu was struggling to gain control of his wild emotions. An avalanche of memories kept threatening to drown him in the raw emotion that they pulled from the Dragon Slayer. At some point he had fallen over, writhing in pain as his head throbbed in harmony with his pulse. His brain felt like it was being shredded to pieces, as if someone had let loose a wild her of exceeds and his head was a scratching post.

He groaned as a new wave of memories washed over him.

_Igneel had left again; it wasn't a very uncommon occurrence, Igneel would leave every month for a few days, and then come back. Natsu never asked where he went every time and Igneel never told, Natsu could accept his foster father's privacy and never thought otherwise. _

_Natsu actually used those days to go exploring; mapping out the forest outside of the cave and the path to the lake. _

_He couldn't help but remember the warning Igneel had given him that day, about the promise he had made. But he never remembered it for long, because his search would always inevitably turn towards humans._

_Every time his father left, he would press deeper into the woods than he had the last time, always hoping to see some sign of human habitation. However, his efforts were fruitless, and Igneel would often return to find Natsu in a temperamental mood._

_One day, after he had already given up searching for humans, Natsu had been wandering aimlessly through the woods. Coincidentally, Natsu happened to look up and spot a pillar of smoke rising high above the trees. Puzzled, he went to investigate._

_What he found was more than he was prepared for._

_Bear traps, animal skins, magic guns, and boxes of bait were all that greeted him as he approached the camp. The metallic scent of blood filled his nostrils, and the creeping feeling of death made a shiver run up his spine. He wasn't at all bothered by the sight of animal skin, but something else did bother him; all the wasted pieces._

_Meat had been left to rot in this camp sight. Dozens of animal carcasses had been gutted, skinned, and stripped of all their juicy meat, and they weren't even eating it. All the skins had been neatly stacked onto a wagon, most likely ready to leave for the nearest town to be sold to a tanner._

_Natsu could smell where the organs and flesh of the animals had been carried off and buried so that not even scavengers could salvage the meat. Natsu could see the skins of animals that Igneel told him were rare, and shouldn't be eaten. He clenched his fist in barley suppressed anger._

_How could they do this? This couldn't be the work of humans, creatures he admired and sought after so committedly. Tears began to fall from his eyes as the dragon part of him accepted the discovery and demanded he move on; but the human part of him would not let it go._

_The sound of a twig snapping behind him caused Natsu to whirl around in panic. He could hear the clumsy movements of several humans drawing near. He panicked, knowing that there was no time for him to sprint into the woods. He ducked behind the wagon just as the first human emerged from the woods._

_He quickly flopped onto his belly and crawled under the wagon, trying to get a better look at the creatures. There were five of them, but they weren't nearly as remarkable as Natsu had believed they would be, in fact they were kind of boring. Natsuu pouted as he realized that the humans were just like him, just larger and uglier._

_However, as they began to settle in; Natsu did notice a large difference between himself and them. They didn't have wings, or even a tail for that matter. Well, neither did he… most of the time._

_Natsu flinched as a pair of steel toed boots clomped down heavily in front of his face, and had to clamp his mouth shut to keep from crying out. _

_"__Hey Bard, we ready to get a move on, I want to be back to the city by nightfall."_

_One of the men leaning over the fire nodded sullenly as the others in the group began to pack up. The man with the steel toed boots moved into Natsu's line of sight as he moved away from the wagon, and Natsu wrinkled his nose in disgust._

_The man was huge, easily topping six feet tall. He had greasy black hair and was missing far too many teeth, and his nose looked like it had been broken a few times, and almost looked completely squashed against his face. His clothes looked like they had once been expensive, but were now tattered and worn, covered in old blood stains. _

_He leaned on Bard and popped a cigar in his mouth, puffing for a moment as the man next to him looked away uncomfortably._

_"__You see that there," the man said, gesturing to the wagon hanging over Natsu's head. "That right there is going to make me rich, and it's all thanks to you man. You worked so hard to track all those animals for me; I almost don't want to let you go."_

_Bard's head shot up. "What about by family?" He protested, fear prominent in his features. "You said you would let them go if I helped you on this last haul, and if you got over a 500,000 jewels profit you would let me go too."_

_The cigar man draped his arm over Bards shoulder and leaned in close, blowing smoke in the man's face._

_"__Well, you see, we were hoping that we could reach a million jewels if you managed to catch that Rainbow bird, but sadly, you didn't, which may have just hurt your chances a bit."_

_"__But you could still get a little more than half a million with what I got you!"_

_"__Now ya' see Bard, it doesn't work quite like that. First, we got to subtract the costs of feeding your family, the costs of buying all this equipment, the payment my men deserve for their labor and a dozen other things. The profit is really quite small, really only a quarter million."_

_Bard paled as he realized what a serious situation he was in. he had no choice but to comply, seeing as his entire family was on the line. The cigar man took another puff from is cigar and laughed at Bards distress. _

_The crew quickly finished packing away the camp supplies and loaded onto the wagon. Bard made as if to join them, but was pushed away by one of the men. He was about to protest, but suddenly one held a gun up to his chest. Bard raised his hands in the air and slowly backed away as the wagon began to move._

_Natsu scrambled to flip over on his back and grab the wagons axel before he was exposed. The man with the gun stayed behind with Bard, slowly backing him up towards a tree._

_As the wagon made a sharp turn on the dirt path, Natsu quickly detached himself from the wagons underside and ran back to the camp. He wanted to help Bard, but he also didn't want to be caught by these people. He crouched behind a tree to watch the confrontation between the two humans._

_Bard had backed up to the far end of the camp, the gunman following in his wake. Natsu quietly crept along the edge of the clearing, trying to get a better view. Every muscle in his body was screaming for him to run; but he couldn't, he wanted to see how this all played out._

_The gunman stopped in the middle of the clearing, letting Bard make more distance, but kept his aim centered on the other man's chest._

_"__The boss has got one more job for you, if you'll take it." The man said, a mocking lilt in his tone._

_"__I thought he wanted you to kill me," Bard responded, finally settling next to a large oak tree at the edge of the clearing._

_"__Oh don't get me wrong, he does, but where would be the fun in killing you if we didn't get one more bit of work out of you."_

_The man lowered his gun, casually unloading the weapons magic bullets._

_"__So here's the deal; you and me are going to go hunting for a particular creature. If we find it, we'll kill it, and bring it back to the boss. When we get it to the boss and if he gets a good profit on it, we'll let your family go, but sadly, you'll have to die since you know too much. On the other hand, if we don't find the creature and get a good profit, we will kill your family and drop you into the ring with a couple of Vulcans and see how long you're hunting skills last. So what say you?"_

_Bard stood frozen, trying to process all the information. His fists clenched and unclenched and sweat poured down his brow. He had already gone through so much to protect his family, all so he go on living with them, and now that wouldn't be an option. He would die no matter what he did._

_The hunter nodded slowly, trying to assure himself as he made his decision. If his family lived, then he would be happy, even if he died in the end. They would be sad when they heard of his death, but he would rather them be sad than dead._

_"__So what is this creature that I am hunting down?"_

_The other man smiled manically as he slid his gun into its holster. The boss would be pleased to hear this. They were going to be rich soon, all because of this naïve idiot._

_"__You best prepare yourself, Bard. We're going dragon hunting."_

**Notes: Sorry this took so long, I was at my grandparents' house for most of the week and they don't have wi-fi ****L****. Anyways, please comment or leave a review.**

**(P.S. I might begin to fall behind on chapter updates here pretty soon, my vacation is about to start so I'll probably neglect my writing. Keep reading everyone!)**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**Notes: If anyone is still looking for the next chapter in "The Soul Eater," that story no longer exists. I deleted it because I have absolutely run out of steam for that story, no inspiration what so ever. I do, however, have plenty of inspiration for this story so settle in; this is going to be a bumpy ride.**

**Disclaimer: I have not yet stolen the rights for Fairy Tail from Hiro**

* * *

Natsu gasped as he regained control of his senses, forcing down the images by will alone. He sat there on the lake's shore, struggling to contain all the emotions flowing forth from his past. Why now of all times would he remember those days, the final moments he spent with his father?

He slowly uncurled from his crouched position and stretched his weary muscles. He was exhausted, completely emotionally spent. A slight twinge of pain resounded down the muscles of his back and down to his tail bone. He rubbed the ginger areas as he began the trek back home.

He reached his home in the woods just as dawn began to break, and the first light of the day began to drive away the dark. He shuffled silently into the house, not wanting to disturb Happy, and climbed into his hammock. Slowly, his eyes closed, and he quickly gave in to the beckoning calls of sleep.

* * *

When Happy finally returned to the house, Natsu was passed out in his hammock, gently swinging back and forth. Happy smiled softly as he watched Natsu; this was the most sleep that the dragon slayer had probably had in days. He flew up to the rafters and settled down on the pillow he kept there and silently drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Lucy sneezed and a huge cloud of dust flew up into her face, sending her into a coughing fit. Levy swished her hand through the air to clear the stifling cloud, not looking up from the book she was reading.

"I think someone is talking about me," Lucy moaned, shuffling through the huge piles of books surrounding her on all sides.

"That's just a myth Lucy. If people sneezed every time someone talked about them, then all of Fairy Tail would be sneezing twenty-four-seven," Levy said, glancing up at the blond mage for a moment.

Lucy hopped into the air, trying to see over the huge mountain of books. She knew that the library had an excess of books, but this was ridiculous. Books stretched infinitely towards the ceiling in every direction, jutting out like jagged mountain peaks.

Lucy spotted several of her spirits helping in the moving effort. Taurus was pulling a wagon full of books back and forth between the two libraries, and Virgo was sorting them into piles of fiction and non-fiction. Levy and Lucy would come in and sort the books into their respectable subject piles once they had been transported. She quickly gave up trying to see past the enormous stacks and sat down quietly next to Levy.

Suddenly, Levy jumped up into the air, shoving the book she had been reading into Lucy's face.

"Look Lucy," she said excitedly. "I think I found a permanent Troia spell! We could use this on Natsu and Gajeel so they don't get motion sickness!"

Lucy took the book from the solid-script mage's hands and quickly glanced over the spell, trying to translate the ancient symbols. She wasn't too sure it was a Troia spell.

"Are you sure Levy, that doesn't seem right? I think you confused the word for motion with the word for sound."

Levy huffed, snatching the book away from Lucy. "Who's the solid-script mage here?"

Lucy rolled her eyes as Levy scanned back over the script, a determined look on her face.

"I'm sure this is a spell that invokes Troia, but why don't we test it just to be sure."

Lucy gaped, she couldn't be serious. "W-we can't just test a spell that you're not completely certain about, what if it's like a death spell or something?"

"I'm sure it's not. Come on Lucy, I just want to try it out, use me as the guinea pig, if nothing happens, then we know it worked. Please do it."

A bead of sweat rolled down Lucy's head as she took the book from Levy, earning an excited fist bump from the bluenett. Lucy scanned the text again, pronouncing each syllable in her head before she said it aloud. Finally, she spoke the aloud and a tiny bit of magic floated from the book and towards Levy's body, who tensed up in anticipation. When Lucy finished, she watched Levy for a moment, sure that she would explode or something; but there was nothing.

She smiled triumphantly and began to laugh, but then her face contorted in horror as she realized that something was horribly wrong.

She had no voice.

Lucy couldn't help but laugh as Levy flailed about, knocking over piles of books as she threw a tantrum. Her eyes shot daggers at Lucy and she snatched the book from her hands. She frantically flipped through its pages, not finding anything that could , she calmed down and sullenly plopped down on the pile of books that was her seat.

Lucy took the book from Levy and tried to find the unmuting spell, but there was no such luck. She sat down next to Levy who was silently crying her eyes out, her sobs unheard by the world.

"It'll be okay Levy, when we get back to Fairy Tail we can ask Wendy to fix this. Hopefully she knows some spells that can help. Levy nodded but continued to sulk, so Lucy let her be. She deftly pulled several books from the massive piles around her, prompting levy to pick one up as well. The solid-script mage smiled as Lucy sat down next to her. Lucy was sure that Wendy would have something, the little dragon slayer always did. She cracked open the book in her hands and began to read, and was soon lost in the world written on the books pages.

-Two Hours later-

_"__Don't kill her," Dancer said, stepping into the light that leaked onto the path from the street. "We need to find out why she did it and who she's working for."_

_Her? Han slumped back against the wall, his knife dangling loosely, his head spinning. This is a dream, he thought._

_Dancer knelt next to the prone larcener and relieved her of her knife. He gently turned the body over._

_It was-_

"Princess."

Lucy squealed, tossing her book in the air as she fell from her pile of books. Virgo stood over her, un-phased by Lucy's reaction. "Is it time for punishment?"

Lucy sighed as she lifted herself from the floor, dusting herself off as she went.

"No Virgo, just don't scare me like that, you nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Yes, Princess. I came to inform you that we are halfway finished, but Taurus has been running on his own magical energy for quite some time and he is very tired."

Lucy noticed for the first time that the mountain of books that had once surrounded them on all sides had been reduced dramatically, it only reached past her chest now, yet more books loomed in the distance.

"I must have unconsciously released my magic, sorry Virgo."

"No need for apologies Princess, although I would like to rest as well."

Lucy nodded as Virgo faded back into the spirit world. The white puddle of cow goop that was once Taurus also returned, leaving the two girls and a lonely wagon in the Library.

Levy seemed to have moved in the past few hours and was now on the other side of the library, removing the last few books from their shelves. She was perched high up on the shelf's ladder, a large pile of books next to her. Lucy glanced at her watch and frowned when she saw how late it was. She grabbed the book she had been reading and walked over to Levy, ogling at the vast space that now filled the once cramped library.

Levy quickly descended from the shelf's ladder and smiled at Lucy, several books pressed protectively to her chest.

Lucy smiled back then commented, "I guess you're staying up late tonight?"

Levy nodded, a determined gleam in her eye. Lucy sighed and took one last look around the huge library and made for the exit, Levy happily walking beside her. She seemed to almost have forgotten about the muting spell that was cast on her just a few hours ago.

The two quickly disappeared into the darkness of the streets of Hargeon, unaware of the intense magical presence that had been watching them since they arrived at the port city.

* * *

A man silently followed the two Fairy Tail mages to their apartment. He smirked as he watched the blue haired girl communicate with the busty blond with her hands, making her laugh. This had to be some sort of joke. Fairy Tail mages were considered the strongest in Fiore, there was no way these fruity girls could be members. The blond seemed to be at least mildly powerful with her keys and spell recitation, but the bluenett was far too weak to spend much effort on.

He stopped following the two women, slinking into the shadows as he backtracked to the library. Stepping into an alleyway, he pulled out a communication Lachrima and quickly called his employer. The man's huffy face appeared, his eyes squinting in concentration as they tried to center in on the tiny orb.

_"__Did you find the Fire mage_?"

"One of my comrades has located him, but he is too powerful to attack directly. I've tracked a few of his friends to Hargeon, they seem rather weak so it will be easy to capture them and use them as bait to lure him to you."

His employer huffed, obviously put off by the change in their original plans. _"This could cause disastrous problems for my schedule; I am busy you know!"_

"Of course sir, but my master and I preferred actually capturing the Salamander rather than losing all our men."

His employer smirked. _"So you admit that your guild is weaker then that slayer."_

"Yes, but I am not."

His employer nodded and waved his hand, ready to end the Lachrima connection. _"I don't care what you do, as long as the Salamander is brought to me by the end of the week."_

With that, the connection ended and the man was left staring at a dark orb. He stowed the Lachrima in his coat pocket and stepped out of the alley. He turned down the empty street, heading towards the grand Hargeon library.

* * *

**Notes: Here's the chapter! I wanted to finish the whole story with Bard but I figured I'd leave you hanging. By the way, the lines from the book that Lucy was reading is the second book of ****_The Seven Realms_**** series, ****_The Exiled Queen_**** by Cinda Williams Chima, It's a very good series. Please leave the reviews, they may just make the next chapter come out faster! Also, please check out my new fanfic, ****_That Day, X777_****. Please leave me some chocolate cookie reviews!**


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys, Asrith here, you all know that this story is currently on Hiatus due to the editing I told you about, but not for much longer! The editing has been done (mostly in chapters 2-3 don't ask why it took me so long to edit two measly chapters, I got really busy and Fanfiction just kind of flew out the window) but it's done, so if you got like, five e-mails saying that chapter 1,2,3,4, and 5 are done, that's because I'm blind and made a terrible mistake when I was entering the edited chapters, but not to worry, it's all fixed up. You don't have to go back and read the changes, but they make me feel better about myself, so there. The next chapter is in it's final stages, just thought I'd give you guys a little heads up! Thank you all for being so patient (especially you MarBurryBlur, I hate the word Hiatus as well) Keep reading everyone!


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